First Autism Blood Test to Detect the Disorder in Children

Scientists say they have developed a blood test that can detect autism in children, according to a report published in Molecular Autism.

The scientists were able to establish a connection between damaged proteins in plasma and autism and by isolating those proteins.

The study was conducted on 38 children with autism spectrum disorder (29 male, 9 female) and 31 age-matched children who do not have autism and acted as the control group.

The researchers found the link between the damaged proteins and autism by studying the two groups then developed a predictive algorithm based on the results.

The algorithm was able to diagnose the kids with autism correctly 90% of the time, according to researchers.

"Our test is expected to improve the accuracy of ASD diagnosis from 60-70 percent currently achieved by experts in neurological disorders to approximately 90 percent accuracy," Naila Rabbani, lead study author and a biologist at the University of Warwick in the U.K., told Gizmodo.